All Vol

Writing a blog is challenging. There’s been a lot going on which means I have more stuff to write about, but little time for writing. So, I’m going to try to be succinct and give you the highlights of the last week or so.

On Saturday, January 29 we had a mandatory session for all volunteers and staff in Samoa. A bunch of us met for dinner at the Yacht Club the night before. Nothing fancy, but the rain held off and we dined outdoors next to the water, which was lovely. I was encouraged to try the fish enchiladas. It was more like a burrito, made with a flour tortilla and didn’t have enchilada sauce but it was definitely tasty.

The venue for the meeting was the Hotel Millenium. It was very nice, complete with air conditioning, tv (which we never turned on) and hot water. Mostly, it was clean. You know like you could step out of the shower onto a clean floor. So nice. I wasn’t looking forward to bunking with two other people, but my roommates were Sia, the other geezerette and Emi from Group 82, who’s my closest neighbor.

Mostly the meeting was for teambuilding with both volunteers and staff. It was the first time we’d officially met Group 82, who has been here a year. They are all teachers too, so it was good to hear their perspective and get some advice.

I wore my best puletasi and strutted my stuff for the Best Dressed contest. I figured I’m too old for Miss America so this could be my last chance for the runway. I won! Got a lovely certificate, which indicated commended my fashion sense as well as my “overall seki a-ness”. Seki a means cool. Most important was the prize, which consisted of a lovely tiara, the certificate and a Mars bar. I wore the tiara proudly and did not share the chocolate.

The big news of the day was made by Dale. He announced that due to budget cuts and other political realities, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga PC will be consolidated and the Country Director/staff will be based in Suva, Fiji. That shouldn’t impact me too much, depending on what they do with local support staff. The Americans working here are losing their jobs. Dale, our country director will finish out his contract and stay until 2013. My buddy Denise will be leaving and I’m bummed. Kellye, who I also really like is also leaving, but was already scheduled to leave fairly soon.

Some mucky mucks from Washington will be here this week to take a look around and determine how it will all work. We heard that they will only have one PC Medical Officer for the three countries, based in Fiji. I’ll be interested in seeing what they do for us for local medical support.

The other exciting thing was that we finally got our calendar so I can start looking at vacation dates – both to leave the island and to have visitors.

The rest of the day was uneventful. As always, the biggest concerns at off-site meetings is usually food (very good) and room temperature (too hot). For me, the biggest thing was the opportunity to meet some of Group 82. Nice folks.

Those of us from Savaii spent an additional night at the hotel, since ferries don’t run in the evening. I was excited about getting some pizza on Sunday, but that didn’t work out. I did spend several hours in the PC office, hanging out with other volunteers and copying movies, TV and teaching resources onto my external hard drive. The biggest disappointment is that now my laptop doesn’t recognize the hard drive. It sounds like there’s something loose in the hard drive, which doesn’t bode well. Unfortunate, since one of the things I downloaded was a bunch of Animal Planet shows to show at school.

Anyway, it was a nice break from village life, although I spent too much money. Mostly on food. I brought back stuff like syrup, pancake mix, peanut butter, chili beans, etc. That stuff either isn’t available here or is way more expensive. Overall, it was a great opportunity to enjoy some amenities and a change of scenery and recharge my batteries.